A Quick Workout For Honeymoon Worthy Abs

Written with love, by Jennifer Dene

Welcome back for our final week of fitness variations to take your workout from blah to babe!

Today we are elevating the humble abdominal crunch into a thing of fitness magnificence. Are you ready?

I’ve written before that I don’t always isolate my abdominal muscles during workouts, as too much targeted ab work can lead to injury. Over the last two week’s you have been strengthening your core with squats and planks, which are both terrific to do on a regular basis. The crunch variations below will be the perfect addition to your workout once or twice a week.

How To Do The Basic Crunch

Step One: Start by laying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Take your hands behind your head and relax your head into your palms.

Step Two: Keeping your low back still against the ground flex through your upper torso to lift your head and chest away from the floor and direct your gaze to your navel.

Step Three: Lower back down to the starting position. On a crunch you exhale when you lift the chest and inhale to return.

The Variations

Rope Climber

This move targets your six-pack muscles as you slowly roll the spine up and down from the floor. Try to keep your feet still and not use any momentum!

Reverse Crunch

The six-pack is still engaged as you hold a static upper ab curl, but then you recruit your deep belly muscles to lift the hips and bring the knees to the nose. Often women forget to train the lower half of their abs so you will be thanking me for this one come the honeymoon!

Side Glides

This move flexes the spine from side to side to tone those oblique muscles in a different way than the normal bicycle twist. Keep your knees as still as possible as you reach towards your heels.

I recommend starting with 5 repetitions for each of these new moves and adding on once you feel confident. Press play for the quick video tutorial to see exactly how to do these moves, and then let me know which one is your favorite and why by leaving a comment below!

I can’t wait to workout with you!
      
       Jennifer Dene

Bridal Babes Have To Do Planks. Here’s How.

Written with love, by Jennifer Dene

Last week you learned three variations on the basic squat. Have you been incorporating these moves into your regular fitness routine? I hope so! Today we switch our focus to our arms and core muscles by playing with the full plank.

Planks are fantastic for strengthening your arms, shoulders, abdominals, back and even the legs. They are not easy but they are so worth the effort, in fact I do planks as my main abdominal exercise during most workouts.

A simple way to effectively build your fitness and change the shape of the body is returning to the basic strength training exercises and perfecting them over time. Once upon a time I could hardly hold a 30 second plank and now I’m up to 5 minutes (but it’s ok, I won’t make you do that one just yet).

On the days that I don’t have time for a full workout I will just throw down a couple of planks throughout the day as they elevate my heart rate and tone my body.

How To Do The Basic Plank

Step One: Plant the hands under the shoulders, about as wide as the chest, as though you are about to do a push up. Step the feet back with the toes tucked under so that you are in one long line from head to foot.

Step Two: Squeeze your abs, squeeze your butt and continuously press away from the floor with your arms and legs. Remember the saying: “Light as a feather, stiff as a board”.

Modification: If you notice tension or pain in your low back, drop your knees down into kneeling plank position. This is a great starting exercise.

The Variations

Forearm Plank Swivels

The forearm plank sculpts beautiful shoulders for your gown. Adding the pivot from the hips increases the abdominal workout, particularly focusing on those waist muscles called obliques.

Staggered Side Plank Lifts

One of my favorite variations is the staggered side plank lift, which focuses on the entire side of the body, including the upper arm, outer thighs and waist. Modifications include doing this on your forearm or keeping a knee down.

Reverse Plank

Reverse plank targets the triceps more than any other variation (those pesky muscles at the back of the arm) as well as the booty. It also stretches the chest which is amazing for bridal posture, especially if you’ve been hunched over your phone or computer using Pinterest.

I recommend starting with 5 repetitions for each of these new moves and adding on once you feel confident. Press play for the quick video tutorial to see exactly how to do these moves, and then let me know which one is your favorite and why by leaving a comment below!

I can’t wait to workout with you!
     Jennifer Dene

7 Minute Ab Workout For A Beautiful Belly

Written with love, by Jennifer Dene

Happy Saturday beautiful bride!

I love working out with you each weekend - It’s such a fun and positive way to start the day. Today I have a deep belly burn workout that is perfect when done on its own or added to the end of our last bridal leg workout (phew, I hope you felt your legs after that one!).

I only isolate my abdominal muscles during one training session each week, as too much targeted ab work can cause structural imbalances and diastasis (separation of the six-pack muscles). Of course the core is active during every workout, especially in planks and squats, but I don’t recommend doing hundreds of crunches each time you go to the gym.

With that said, I do love a good belly burn workout every now and again and I have a feeling that you might agree. Let’s keep up that healthy new year motivation as we enter the third week of January.

What we’re focusing on today:

1.    Obliques

These are the muscles at the side of the waist: Cinching in your waist with sliders, bicycles and side plank will make that mermaid gown really pop!

2.    Rectus Abdominis

The Six-Pack: As I mentioned, I rarely isolate the six-pack muscles in my workouts, but today they are getting some love with a weighted crunch. There are three levels of this move so follow the one that suits you best. A femininely defined belly will look smoking hot in your honeymoon bikini.

3.    Transversus Abdominis

This is your deep low belly: This muscle is the most important abdominal muscle for supporting the spine and improving your posture — especially before you walk down the aisle. We strengthen the TA during our frog presses and plank pose, so continuously draw your navel into your spine during those moves.

Let’s Get Started! Grab your mat and one heavy weight (optional) and let’s do it to it!

P.S. after your workout is the perfect time to try a bridalicious smoothie. Get the healthy breakfast smoothie recipe here.